OJI AND THE ASCENSION TEAMRight out of the musical lineage of Parliament Funkadellic, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Dudley Perkins and the Dungeon Family steps Bay Area bred producer Oji and his crew, the Ascension Team. Oji’s music is on some futuristic other level type of space vibe. He is like an Andre 3000, on a production level conjuring sound chemistries not ever heard before in widely known rap music.

"I started doing music production in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. I learned from my uncle Mark Elliott, who allowed me to sit in his studio sessions at FM Studios in Oakland – before digital music software. He worked on the big analog mixing boards and ADAT tape.

My work in music is based in the healing genre. Being a visual artist, animator, writer, dancer, yogi, filmmaker, & photographer. It allows me to incorporate these many outlets of expression together if possible, through music video or live performances. My passion for music started when I was around 10 yrs old. I grew into writing lyrics & producing songs for other artist as well. When I first started I was negatively influenced by my old neighborhood which was in the Bay View Hunters Point area of San Francisco. I had a near death experience that made me take life & culture more serious. Feeling the pressures of life I then began to create things to inspire myself and others. My interests in quantum physics, metaphysics, the cosmos, and nature all feed into the music that I produce. I also learned 'conlanging', in which I write lyrics and spontaneously freestyle in a new language that is interwoven into songs."

DOORS 9:00 PM; SHOW 9:30 PM

$7-15 sliding scale

Oakland Freedom Jazz Society takes place every Monday night at Studio Grand. Lineups feature avant-jazz, experimental and noise performances by local and touring musicians and multimedia artists. OFJS is a long-running (4 years and counting!) series curated by Fernando Carpenter of VAMP. For more information, check out OFJS's Facebook page.